Slave Girls Don't Cry
by THECURSOR
Summary: Orion Animal Women aren't allowed to cry...but Gaila does.


Slave Girls Don't Cry

By THECURSOR

I own nothing

Synopis: Orion Slave Girls aren't allowed to cry but Gaila does.

* * *

Her big brother, Hovir, tried very hard to fight the Slavers off but he was just a twelve year old boy.

Orion men were large and muscular, usually well over six feet. Hovir might've been big for his age but the large green giants that came in the night were too strong and too fast. They beat him horribly and the only thing the little eight year old girl could do was cry.

She sobbed and sobbed as they dragged her out of the two room shack in Old Town and into the collection vehicle. She screamed Hovir's name over and over but the Slavers didn't listen.

She was still crying when they brought her to the Sex School where the tall, luxurious looking woman gave her candy and said "My name is Enora, your new teacher, what is your name?"

"Gaila." Said the little girl.

"Well, Gaila, you are going to be a very special little girl. You will want for nothing and have so many interesting lovers. We'll even teach you to dance, would you like that?"

Gaila shook her head, no she wouldn't, but Enora ignored her. "Yes you will, you'll learn to like it just like I learned to." The woman whispered, "And as long as you learn the rules, you'll never go hungry again."

Gaila had to stop crying when she learned the first rule of being an Animal Woman: "Never cry."

* * *

It wasn't the sex that upset her. She liked the sex; she wouldn't be an Orion if she didn't. It was after the sex.

After the sex was over, the client would smile and give her a chaste kiss on the cheek or some other equally silly gesture that was completely inappropriate for the situation and then he'd leave or she would go back to the brothel ship or the handler would escort her back to the hotel room and then the illusion would officially be over.

She didn't care about how the clients looked or how much money they had; it was about how they treated her…they desired her, even if it was fake, even if it was only for an hour or two. They would give her the illusion of being wanted and that illusion filled her with joy.

The Brothel Madam didn't "desire" her, she didn't even like her! She was this old Orion Witch Mother who clung to a folklore superstition about red hair being a sign of evil. She treated Gaila like dirt at every convenience and even encouraged the other girls to do the same. Sometimes, when the Madam thought she was "misbehaving" she'd send handlers to "fix" her and they would do horrible things to her. Ugly, evil, vile things. Things that she would never do with a client, no one could pay her enough to do them.

But she didn't cry, not even when things were bad.

No, she only cried when the job was over and the illusions fell away.

Alone in her dirty little room she would cry because she knew that tomorrow the illusion would return and she'd feel good for an hour or two…

Only to wind up in her dirty little room again.

And that was so sad, she had to cry.

* * *

The Starfleet Officer was very young and quite handsome and when he entered the room she immediately assumed that was quite lucky to have such a dashing client.

When she tried to kiss him, he dodged her and started stammering about something this and something that. She tried to coax him into bed and remind him that she was a professional "Don't worry, I won't judge you."

But he shook his head and tried to explain again.

Gaila didn't have a translator and her Terran wasn't very good but it sounded like "you're free" but that couldn't be right, could it? Free meant…

She looked past his shoulder and saw the handlers gathering her things, saw the Brothel Madam glaring at her with anger and defeat.

Free?

The tears started coming very slowly as the full depth of that word hit her. The Officer, she would learn later on that he was a Chief Petty Officer named Huxley, told her a story about how he noticed her in the market two days ago and she how sad she looked and how it didn't seem right for her to be stuck in a situation like this and he kept talking but Gaila wasn't listening anymore.

She just heard the word "free" over and over and over again.

Free.

The word didn't feel real enough, she had to say it. "Free."

The tears fell faster and faster until she was screaming with joy and emotion and sobbing with happiness. In one graceful motion she grabbed Huxley around the neck and kissed him and hugged him and squeezed him.

Every year for the rest of his life, CPO Huxley received a thank you card marked in Orion script.

She was free and she was so happy she cried.

* * *

"We'd be happy to have you"

She was crying when she saw the acceptance letter.

The refugee facility on Mars never really felt like home until the letter from Starfleet Academy arrived via subspace email. It had her address at the top, a sign of how far she'd come in the two years since being liberated.

Slave girls didn't get an address or get acceptance letters from Starfleet Academy, but some how she had both. That could only mean she was finally no one's slave, no one owned Cadet Gaila and no one ever would.

The best part of her acceptance letter (she'd eventually print out a hard copy and frame it) was the phrase "on merit alone".

She earned this. She studied hard and earned something! No slave ever did that; no brothel girl ever earned that!

Against all the odds in the galaxy, Gaila had earned a spot in the most prestigious educational facility in Federation space "on merit alone". No sex, no favors, no backroom deals. She studied for her test and earned her spot through hard work.

And that made her so proud, she had to cry.

* * *

She didn't cry until she heard the thud sound of metal hitting tarmac.

The shuttle came to complete stop on Earth and Gaila could hear the cheers of her fellow cadets as they struggled out of the Farragut's escape pod. By the Great Bird, it was good to be home.

The Universe has never been kind to her, it's enslaved her, exploited her, and now it sent a crazed Romulan to kill her. She didn't break and if being forced into sexual servitude didn't break her, surviving the one sided battle in Federation history wasn't going to do it either.

But being here, seeing this strange little planet she called home again conjured up all the memories of how much she's survived over the years. The tears ran down her face before she could stop them and suddenly a feeling of relief washed over her.

She was glad to be alive and that made her cry.

* * *

Jim Kirk was a rat. A stinking, ugly, evil, ugly, mean, RAT!

Orion women didn't mind cheating, because cheating didn't exist in their culture, but lying was unforgivable. And Kirk was a liar. Oh was he ever a liar.

It didn't take her long to figure out he didn't feel about her the same way she felt about him and when she asked him, point blank, how he felt he lied to her and strung her along.

When he failed to show up for their 'anniversary' party, Gaila knew he was out with Carol Marcus or Lola or anyone of the dozens of other girls he dated. She didn't normally care about that, polyamorous was the name of Gaila's game, but tonight was supposed to be special.

She told him it was special and he just laughed.

And now, sitting alone in her apartment, she knew he didn't love her the same way she loved him.

And that made her cry.

* * *

She swore that she'd never date a human man ever again but that was like swearing off fudge when you lived in a candy store.

Gaila loved human men, loved the way the looked and the sound of their voices and it was only a matter of time before another one caught her eye. Jeffery was so different from the other humans she'd dated. He wasn't in Starfleet, he didn't crave adventure or try to scam her or possess her or brag about her to his friends. He was cute and sweet and quiet.

She was with him for nearly a year before he asked her to move in, a request that startled her. Monogamy was a very human idea that seemed very odd to an Orion. In her culture, the idea of picking one person, living with them, and then never having sex with anyone else was just so bizarre. Eventually, she decided to give it a try but on her terms. She'd give up other men but women were fair game. She told Jeffery he could date other men if he wanted but he just made one of those embarrassed faces that told her he probably wouldn't.

At first she was afraid that a steady relationship would feel too much like slavery but she was pleasantly surprised by how freeing and fun it was. There was always someone to come home to, there was always someone to do something with, and she was never lonely.

She liked Jeffery, liked him a lot and told him that on many occasions. He told her that he loved her and that made her feel…pretty good.

So after dating for a year and living together for six months, Jeffery asked her a question that made her cry. They were in bed together and naked and he looked down and said "Can I ask you something?"

Gaila assumed that he wanted a threesome and she mentioned this cute Deltan waitress she met at a coffee shop that was totally into that but she mentioned that they had to be careful because that many pheromones in one room might kill him.

"Uh, no, that's…not what I meant." He whispered, "I was wondering if you wanted to, uh, get married."

Gaila looked at him, her eyes tearing up. She knew what he was asking and it was a question that both confused and elated her. Nobody asked a slave girl to get married; Orions didn't even have marriage ceremonies. So for someone to actually tell her that she was so wonderful that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her was an overwhelming concept.

Through a stream of happy tears, she gave him her answer: "Oh Jeffery, absolutely."

She was going to get married and that made her cry.

But when she finished crying she got out of bed and got dressed.

"Where are you going?" Jeffery asked in that polite stammer.

"We need to celebrate with lots of sex. I'm going to the coffee shop to get that Deltan girl," She said as she pulled on her skirt, "And when I get back the two of us are going to fuck your brains out."

Jeffery started to gasp and wheeze.

* * *

Ten years later, Commander Gaila was clearing out a den of Orion Pirates on Motan IV. She wasn't supposed to be there but since there was a strong chance that Captain McManus would be retiring next year and rumor had it that he was grooming her to replace him. If she wanted to earn that captain's bar (and she did, Wings of the Great Bird she did) she'd need more Away Team experience on her record.

So here she was, barking out orders as security personnel gathered up green skinned ne'er do wells as they prepared to be processed for arrest. She didn't want to be here, these men represented a lot of bad memories and a past that still haunted her.

She wanted to be back on Earth, with Jeffery and the children, she wanted to get this captaincy and move into a cushy teaching job at the Academy Engineering lab and she wanted to do it with as few curve balls as possible

The Universe refused to cooperate.

A commotion at the other end of the room caught her attention as the biggest of the Orions broke free of his restraints and started tossing red shirts around like rag dolls.

He was a monster of a man and the other pirates looked afraid of him as he roared with anger. This must've been the "Space Wolf" the intel had mentioned, the mysterious leader of the Anti-Syndicate pirates. The man who killed slavers.

While she approved of his choice of targets, laws were laws and this man was wanted on two planets for illegal weapons sales.

Ensign Martinez made the mistake of getting too close to the roaring man mountain and Gaila found herself ducking the poor kid's body as it hurtled across the room. "Come any closer, Federation dogs, and I will break you in half!"

That voice made chills run up her spine. It couldn't be…could it?

He was missing an eye and long scars criss-crossed his green skin but his face was unmistakable. "Hovir?"

"Gaila?"

He was still under arrest and eventually he would have to serve two years in a Federation penal station, but his sister helped him through it and when he got out he would live on Earth, even opened a little bar just down the street from the Academy. When Gaila got home from class she'd walk in and have a beer and they'd trade exciting stories.

But that didn't matter at that moment; all that matter was that he was here, with her.

She had her brother back and that made her cry.

The End


End file.
